Quakers and The Lamb's War: A Hermeneutic for Confronting Evil
Alternatives to Violence Project: A Model of Non-Violent Community

The Alternatives to Violence Project (known as AVP) began from a request by
inmates of Greenhaven prison in New York State in 1975 for training in
Non-violent conflict resolution. Out of this developed a program that is
currently active in prisons and other settings around the world. I present it
here as a model of Quaker peacemaking much in the manner of Jesus' third way.

The program consists of three day workshops at three levels, Basic,
Advanced, and Training for Trainers. Participation is voluntary. The basic
workshop is a series of exercises to develop a sense of community in the
group, build self esteem, model group cooperation (and demonstrate the
advantage of group effort over individual), examine values, develop active
listening skills, practice with strategies for problem solving leading to
win-win solutions, and ultimately to build trust. These are alternated with
"light and livelies" which allow participants to get up, move around, and have
some fun, while at the same time developing cooperation and trust and
community.

Of particular interest is the exercise "I Messages." I Messages are ways
"to clarify for oneself and others the feeling and assumptions that surround a
problem. To un-muddy a conflict situation"18 participants are taught to
communicate their feelings in three part statements beginning with "I feel,"
followed by "when you" and ending with "because." The speaker thereby states
the effect the addressee's action is having without placing blame or
responsibility. An example would be "When you play your radio loud it gets me
upset because I can't concentrate on what I am doing. This is asserting one's
self and one's dignity without attacking the other person. It is not
submissively accepting the situation but it is also not attacking in anger as
would be yelling insults or threats, or breaking the radio. Just as in turning
the other cheek, there is no guarantee this course of action will get the
desired result, and in any case not right away, but it does assert one's
dignity and demand respect.

"Transforming Power" is the central concept in every AVP workshop. It is a
term for the Vehiculum Dei which can lead us to the experience of God's power
but which does not have the theological implications and associations found in
the various names for the paraclete. It is experiential, as is Quakerism. The
concept draws "heavily on the work of Gandhi and King, as well as on various
nonviolent resistance efforts against Hitler. ...It is what King calls love
and Gandhi calls satyagraha (truth-force) - and King is right to emphasize the
need to nurture one another so that we have the strength to love." 19

Men (and I have only worked with men) usually associate it with the "Higher
Power" of twelve step (addictions) programs and interpret it in the same way
as "God as we know Him or Her." This is necessary in working with mixed
populations of mostly Christians and Muslims, with the occasional Jew, Hindu,
and even others.

In every Basic workshop participants are given a card titled "Guide to
Transforming Power." On it are twelve principles.

1. Seek to resolve conflicts by reaching common ground.

2. Reach for that something good in others.

3. Listen before making judgements.

4. Base your position on truth.

5. Be ready to revise your position if it is wrong.

6. Expect to experience great inward power to act.

7. Risk being creative rather than violent.

8. Use surprise and humor.

9. Learn to trust your inner sense of when to act.

10. Be willing to suffer for what is important.

11. Be patient and persistent.

12. Build community based on honesty, respect and caring.

It is point eleven (patience) that is germane to the issue of "I Messages."
One "I Message" is not going to repair the effect of years of hostility and
anger. Point ten also comes in; suffering may result in the short term, and
maybe even the long term, but there is a power we feel (point 6) when we act
out of integrity (point 4).

Participants in the Basic workshop, after experiencing improved self
esteem, and learning the skills mentioned above: cooperation, active listening
skills, problem solving techniques and developing trust, may go on to
participate in one or more Advanced workshops. Here one of the topics explored
in the Basic, determined by the group at its first meeting, is further
developed. The third level of workshop is Training for Trainers in which
inmates are trained in leading workshops themselves (the inmates have a lot
more credibility in teaching non-violence than a middle aged, middle class,
white male like myself). There is usually a period of internship after this
before an inmate becomes a full fledged trainer.

The skills learned are important, but just as important is the sense of
community experienced by participants. Inmates who may never have experienced
being truly listened to, valued, or respected (except when they held a
weapon), and who internalized the negative values society applied to them,
learn to live in a community in which trust and respect is the norm. AVP
workshops become what Elise Boulding has called "zones of peace," 20 and their
influence effects the institution in which they exist. It is true that when
they return to their tiers and cells the community is left behind, but they
take a part of it with them. They know what it is like. At the Advanced level
community is strengthened, and AVP Trainers in the general population (of
inmates), I am told, have a stabilizing influence on that population.

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